Moonmaster: Ace Journalist!

Wow. Great job moonmaster. I wish I had the courage to write comic reviews at my school. As of now, I right for the school newspaper's film section (but you could've guessed that).
 
ProjectX2 said:
Nice. What's up with Emma?
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For a while now she's been conspiring with someone in the shadows.

On the last page of #12 they reveal who she's been talking with:
The Hellfire Club.

DIrishB said:
Her monthly condom purchases.
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That too.
 
Yay! New comic reviews!
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Comic Reviews for October
By Moonmaster

Infinite Crisis #1 (DC)
Written by Geoff Johns, Pencils by Phil Jimenez, Covers by Jim Lee and George Perez.
40 Pages, $3.99.

Well, here it is. The series that – according to DC – has been in the making for two years, that – according to DC – will be one of the biggest events in its history. So the question is does it live up to all the hype? And the answer is absolutely. The first issue alone is 32 pages of non-stop action. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman's friendship begins to disintegrate as they investigate the explosion of the JLA Watchtower. The Freedom Fighters are massacred by the Secret Society. The Guardians watch as a storm rearranges reality itself. Donna Troy leaves earth on a mission to save the universe and the OMACs begin to gather over Bludhaven. All the mini-series' and tie-in arcs culminate in this issue. Johns manages to pack dozens of characters and situation into one issue and Jimenez renders it all beautifully and efficiently. But I'm sure the most talked about part of the issue will be the end. If you've read the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, then it will have a huge impact. And if you don't know the history, you'll be very interested when you learn the ending's significance.
5/5

Young Avengers #7 (Marvel)
Written by Allen Heinberg, Pencils by Andrea DiVito, Cover by Jim Cheung.
32 Pages, $2.99.

After a spectacular debut, Young Avengers begins its second arc, "Secret Identities". In this issue, each member of the team must deal with the precarious balance between their superhero careers and their relationships with their parents. Billy's parents learn of him and Teddy's relationship, Cassie's parents wonder if their daughter is a superhero, and Eli's grandfather is sorely disappointed when he learns his grandson's secret. Eli goes after some drug dealers and is surprised to find Mr. Hyde behind it all. All around this is a solid issue with an interesting ending. The fill-in artist, Andrea DiVito gets the job done, but leaves me missing Jim Cheung.
3/5

The Ultimates 2 #8 (Marvel)
Written by Mark Millar, Pencils and Cover by Bryan Hitch.
32 Pages, $2.99.

"Grand Theft Auto" continues with its second chapter, "Born on the Fourth of July". Captain America is none too happy when he learns that Janet has been seeing Hank. At the scene of Hawkeye's apparent murder, Nick learns who the traitor is. While he talks with Bucky, Fury makes a move against Captain America. Now, this issue would be monumental, if it weren't for several outside factors. First of all, we pretty much know that Cap isn't the traitor. If he were, this would be a painfully predictable reveal. And if Cap really isn't the traitor, then it's a bit annoying that this issue has been endlessly hyped as the reveal of the traitor. All things considered, this was still an excellent issue and The Ultimates 2 is still one of the best series being published today.
4.5/5
 
Damn Moony, just read some of these. Your a really good writer for someone who is 15.
 
moonmaster said:
"Grand Theft Auto" continues with its second chapter, "Born on the Fourth of July".
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But in the real review he said "America".

:wink:
 
Planetary

The world can be a boring place sometimes, can't it? We live and we die with little significance to history, and our only escape is through fantasy and fiction. Through a world of events too incredible to take place in this mundane little reality we call "home". But here's an idea: What if those events really did happen? What if someone just doesn't want us to know about them? What if there are people whose job is to bring these people and events kicking and screaming in the world and before our eyes? This is the premise of Planetary.

Planetary is a comic published Wildstorm/DC Comics and masterminded by the unbeatable combination of Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (not to mention the vivid colors of Laura Martin). I recently had the pleasure of reading the first two volumes of this book (collecting issues 1-12), entitled All Around The World and Other Stories and The Fourth Man.

Planetary begins with our main character, a one hundred year old man named Elijah Snow, sitting in a diner in the middle of nowhere drinking coffee that tastes like a dog took a leak in it. He's been here for years, hampered by his enigmatically confused memories and his generally anti-social tendencies. That is, until he meets Jakita Wagner, a lean, mean, mysterious girl who can "dropkick a rhino across the Grand Canyon". She just barely convinces him to join Planetary, a ridiculously wealthy organization devoted to unearthing the secret history of the Twentieth Century so we can enter the Twenty First with a bit more wisdom about our past. The third member of the field team is the Drummer, a supposedly psychotic young man with the unusual talent of "talking" to machines. And then there's the Fourth Man, the secret financial backer of Planetary who no one seems to know anything about. Elijah makes it a goal to find out who he or she is. Elijah finally finds his answer in issue #12, and - without giving anything away - the answer is quite startling (not to sound pretentious, but I guessed it while reading the first issue).

Now you may be asking, what is "the secret history of the Twentieth Century"? It's all the amazing things that happened in the past one hundred years or so that you aren't supposed to know about. It's a team of heroes straight out of a '30s adventure novel trying to end World War II with the most advanced computer ever built. It's an island near Japan that's haunted by a race of monsters from a bygone nuclear age. It's a desert camp where Cold War fears grew into hideous monstrosities and human atrocities. It's the world's greatest protectors being snuffed out before they can save one human life. These are the things that Planetary investigates and they make for a wealth of incredible tales. And why, exactly, are these stories so well hidden? A group of superhuman ex-space explorers called the Four (sound familiar?) want to keep the world in the dark because, as one of them puts it, they're going on the great human adventure "and you can't all come along."

Planetary is written by Warren Ellis, a man with an incredible ability to inject his own brand of freshness and originality into old concepts and genres. Though he draws so heavily from the past, he manages to be more inventive and engaging than most. John Cassaday's pencils have a deft and fine quality to them. His art straddles a line between detail and over detail. The result is art that both stuns and utterly convinces.

So let's get to the heart of the matter: What's Planetary really about? After much thought, I think I have an idea. Our world has grown tired of itself. It's grown bored. We shun the whimsical and strive for the realistic. We do this because we're bored and lazy. We'd rather find the most understandable answer than the one we have to find out for ourselves. We'd rather take the direct route than the detour, no matter how exciting or beautiful it is. The world has sort of lost its mystery. And sometimes, we forget it was even there in the first place. But it is there. We just have to excavate it, like the archaeologists that Planetary employs. Once we do we can view it with that child-like wonder that's so rare today.

So next time you feel yourself being suffocated by the mediocrity of modern life, pick up a copy of Planetary and see how strange and beautiful the world can be. Go ahead, it's been waiting a hundred years for you.
 
Anyone read my latest review?^^^What do you think?
 
The article is very good, especially the conclusion.

That is absolutely correct.

The only thing you didn't mention (re: the meaning of Planetary) is that it cries out, fiercely, for us to be allowed to choose our own futures and dreams, and not have them be stopped, stalled, or destroyed by others.

It's not just about having and finding those dreams - but about fighting for the right to have them.

But it's a top notch article.
 
Bass said:
The only thing you didn't mention (re: the meaning of Planetary) is that it cries out, fiercely, for us to be allowed to choose our own futures and dreams, and not have them be stopped, stalled, or destroyed by others.

It's not just about having and finding those dreams - but about fighting for the right to have them.
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Yes.
 
Miracleman
By Moonmaster


Religion teaches us that God is supreme and all knowing. He represents a grace, a purity that no one can understand or attain. We can strive towards it, but even the thought of climbing to that plateau is blasphemous. This assumption is challenged brilliantly in Alan Moore's masterpiece, Miracleman. Miracleman poses some interesting questions about man's role in the grand scheme of things, all be it in a manner that may not be apparent at first. All will be explained in due time, but for now lets get to the series itself.

Comic books have never been the most original medium, specifically in their early days. Marvelman was a British superhero who ran through the fifties and was quite frankly a pitiful and blatant rip-off of a popular hero named Captain Marvel. A sixteen year old Mike Moran is granted the ability to become an adult superhero with the simple utterance of the word "Kimota". He was later joined by two older kids, Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman. After a series of rather uninspired stories in the fifties and sixties, the character eventually faded into obscurity. Marvelman would lay dormant until 1982. Cue Alan Moore.

Moore was a young unknown in those days. No one would have predicted that critically acclaimed books like Watchmen and V for Vendetta would make him one of the most respected and critically acclaimed comic writers of all time, but his talent was just as evident then as it is now. At this point, Moore had already recognized the ridiculous nature of superheroes and saw that they could be deconstructed and examined when transplanted into real world situations. This, and a childhood concept of a superhero who forgets his magic word, forged the basis of the reincarnation of the long forgotten Marvelman. In 1982, Moore teamed with artists Gary Leache and Alan Davis to produce a series of strips in a British magazine called Warrior. After a hiatus, the series was reprinted in the US and Moore continued the story after the original strips had all been reprinted (Now renamed Miracleman upon legal threats from Marvel Comics). Miracleman was a dangerous and revolutionary take on superheroes and comics in general.

Its 1981 and a middle aged Mike Moran lives with his wife and seems to know nothing about superheroes or their colorful adventures. But he does have a dream, a haunting dream of flying, of snow, and blinding death by light and heat. And when he wakes, there is a word, one that is buried deep in his psyche but is always unreachable. But in one perilous moment, with a whisper of "Kimota", he is Miracleman once more. He regains his memories and tells his wife his "origin". As Miracleman, he battled supposed evil for seven years until he and his cohorts were trapped and seemingly destroyed. But Mike survived. The only flaw in his story is that superheroes don't exist and never have existed. Mike has lived a comic book fantasy.

There's and explanation to this, and its quite startling. Miracleman's true origin is one of the best and is a perfect example of Moore's perversion and destruction of innocent childish superheroes. In reality, Miracleman has been manipulated and lied to his whole life. The true nature of his "transformation" and proceeding ability is also troubling and strange, and it creates a lot of huge conflicts within Mike over his identity.

Moore's tale culminates with a storyline titled "Olympus" which chronicles Miracleman's transformation from hero to God. He confronts absolute horror and transcendent joy. The highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. He battles his Lucifer, his Ragnorak: Kid Miracleman. Its one of the most violent, disturbing, and frighteningly eloquent battles every rendered. All of "Olympus" is beautifully written, but the final issue stands out. Miracleman essentially "fixes" the world. He rebuilds it in his own image and makes his childhood fantasies a reality. He quite literally becomes God.

He goes from Man to God in just five years. He is God, and yet he is different. He laughs, he cries. In his final monologue, he explains how he feels about mankind's attitudes towards the concept of God: "Lift up your heads! You were not made to gaze at gutters, mud and puddles all your lives, but have not dared to raise your sights in case the thing you longed for was not there. Look up and see it now, the shape that's haunted human dreams and legends since we first peered from the jungles long ago and wondered what might dwell on those blue and distant hills, upon those mountains there…Oh, Earth, look up."

Is it possible that those grand wonders we imagine have been inside of us all along? Is it possible that all the imperfections that we detest are actually what make us incredible? Is it possible that that glory that we dreamed of stares back at us in the mirror every day?

Alan Moore's run on Miracleman ends on a single resonating note. Miracleman sits at a garden terrace, looking down at the lights of London from his grand Olympus. He looks out across his world and does something we never expect God to do. Something we should all do a little bit more of: "Sometimes…Sometimes, I just wonder."
 
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